Riesberg pays $620 a month for a one-bedroom apartment off Sherman Street and 11th Avenue, where he has a view of an apple tree.

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To make his four-month home more … homey, he brought his own furniture; pictures, including a poster of a rock climber from the Colorado Tourism Office; a small vase and some other decorations; and exercise equipment for the few hours when he isn’t holed up in his Capitol office.

“Oh, don’t take pictures of my dirty dishes,” he pleaded during a tour Wednesday.

Northern Colorado is on the cusp of being close enough to commute to Denver every day, as evidenced by the large numbers of residents whose jobs don’t pull them permanently south.

Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, drives home to be with his wife and five kids, but spends plenty of time on U.S. 85 because of it. Just last Friday, he drove home to see one of his children’s sporting events, and drove back to the Capitol after it was over so he could keep working.

For others, though, it’s too far.

Riesberg’s seats on the Capital Development and Appropriations committees means he starts meetings at 7:30 a.m. or earlier, so driving down to Denver isn’t really possible.

“It’s gone from an hour and 20 minutes to an hour and 35 minutes,” he said. “That’s a minimum of three hours in the car, and what can you do with three hours? This is five minutes.”

He and other northern lawmakers, including Kefalas, often work until 10 p.m. and rise before 6 to start again.

Kefalas stays so busy he sometimes forgets to eat, but he keeps a box of oatmeal in his studio apartment for when he remembers.

Kefalas’ $450-per-month studio apartment is in a two-building complex that also houses a Section 8 hotel, which provides space for low-income Americans.

He usually hikes up the six flights of stairs to his austere place, which has a gas stove in a kitchen cubby, a bed and room for a couple suitcases. He didn’t bother decorating.

Most lawmakers can get six-month leases, so they don’t have to pay for the months they don’t need to be in Denver. Kefalas was able to cut that down to four months, but that meant a commute during the first week, and some time spent on the couch of fellow Fort Collins Democrat Fischer.

He has a house on the west side of I-25, too far to walk, but a brisk ride even with Colfax Avenue traffic.

Other lawmakers spend upwardsof $1,200 a month for stays in furnished apartments, bed-and-breakfasts or hotels.

It didn’t always used to be that way, however.

Lawmakers used to favor two nearby hotels, the Warwick and the Burnsley, where lobbyists would wine and dine them. The hotels charged cut rates for extended stays, and lawmakers who have spent many years in Denver remember late nights at the swank bars. But 2006’s Amendment 41, which bars lawmakers from taking any gift from a lobbyist or from accepting gifts worth more than $50, changed all that. The free dinners disappeared, the hotel rates tripled and now, legislators are on their own.

Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, rents a room in Denver just in case, but tries to make it home most nights.

“I have a family at home that I try to not abandon during the session,” he said with a wry laugh. “But it’s pretty much 24/7 down here in session.”

Many lawmakers rent in the same buildings, including a place off Grant Street and 17th Avenue, north of the Capitol. According to Capitol lore, Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany can be seen in his slippers, walking through the hallway unfazed by his numerous college-aged neighbors.

Former state Rep. Dorothy Gotleib, a Denver Republican, described legislative housing as a college dorm, Johnson recalled.

When Johnson commuted from Fort Collins when he was first elected, he would be on the road before the sun crested the Weld County plains and he’d often get home long after his wife went to bed. After a while, he realized it wasn’t worth the stress or the time, and he started renting in Denver.

One spring, he was moving out of his small apartment south of the Capitol and needed a place to store his bed in the off-season.

Gotleib had a sprawling office in a corner room of the Capitol, and she offered her space. In what was almost certainly a unique image, Johnson hauled the mattress down Sherman Street to the Capitol’s marble steps and lugged it to the third-floor office.

Now, he shares a two-bedroom apartment in Glendale with a young Republican staffer.

“It’s small, but it’s fine for him and me,” Johnson said.

Johnson said when the session started that he was hopeful he’d be elected a county commissioner, shrinking his driving radius down to the roughly 2,600 square miles of his home county.

In the 10 years he has served in Denver — especially in the last couple years, when he started serving on the busy Joint Budget Committee — he has grown accustomed to spending six months of the year away from home.

“I’m tired of driving to Denver. I kind of miss Larimer County,” he said. “I’m not complaining, I ran for the job, but I’m not going to do it anymore.”

Lawmakers earn $30,000 a year plus money each day for commuting expenses. Those who live outside the metro area get up to $150 a day for living and expenses, including the cost of one round trip between home and Denver.

For some, it’s sufficient money to rent a place, but it’s not much. There are other perks, however: Riesberg and Kefalas both said the best part about their apartments is the walk to work.

Walking out the front door, the Capitol’s gold dome is one of the first things they both see. Not a bad commute for four months of the year.

“I still can’t believe I have keys to this place,” Kefalas said, walking down the Capitol steps to his apartment.